S. Korea's production growing slowly, exports and investments remain sluggish: Finance Ministry

Just a few hours ago, South Korea's finance ministry released its monthly greenbook report,... saying the economy has been "stagnant" for five straight months.For more, we have our Yoon Jung-min on the line.Jung-min, tell us more.Good afternoon, Ji-yoon. The latest economic data shows that South Korea's industrial production has slowly increased but exports and investments have remained sluggish for months.The finance ministry has described the economy as "stagnant" for the past five months in a row.That's mostly because of low growth in the global manufacturing sector, the sluggish semiconductor market, and growing concerns over the U.S.-China trade conflict.The ministry also said Japan's recent export curbs on South Korea have also increased economic uncertainties.Mining and manufacturing output grew zero-point-two percent in June from the previous year,... while facility investments were up zero-point-four percent.Exports in July fell 11 percent on-year,... affected by sluggish demand for chips and the escalating trade spat between Washington and Beijing.Outbound shipments have fallen for 8 straight months since last December.As for private consumption, sales of cars were down nearly 4 percent on-year,... and sales at department stores and discount shops also declined.However, on-line sales and card spending increased nearly 2 percent and 4 percent, each.Consumer prices edged up zero-point-six percent from a year earlier,... as prices of agricultural products and oil remained stable.The ministry said it will fully prepare against Japan's export restrictions and speed up the use of the supplementary budget,... while doing what it can to boost the overall local economy.That's all from me at this hour. Ji-yoon.